The sentinel eyed him, her blue eyes dark in the dimness of the corridor. “You ask many questions, Northman.”
“How else am I to learn?”
She shook her head. “What are you trying to learn?” she wanted to know. “Your men are already taking everything of value and, I would imagine, killing everyone they can. You should not be wasting time speaking with me – you should have killed me long ago and then you would know what is in the chamber.”
Rhonan thought on that. She was right, of course. He should have, indeed, killed her the moment he found her and he should already be in that chamber which, he suspected, did not hold the king. As their conversation had suggested, he really did suspect something like an artifact or Bible or something else that was precious to the people of Hendocia. Perhaps she was guarding a vault with Hendocia ancestors in it. It must have been something of religious or sentimental value because, surely, one woman would not be guarding the treasure of the entire kingdom.
Or… would she?
“You have been more than eager to die the entire time I have been here,” he said. “Here you stand, guarding this door without a weapon in your hand, and you continually make attempts to provoke me. Why do you do such things? I already told you I did not want to kill you, Bluebell. Why do you not take me for my word?”
The sentinel eyed him. “Why should I?” she asked. “You seem intent on talking when the rest of your comrades are destroying my world.”
He pointed to the door behind her. “Because I want to know what you are guarding.”
The sentinel studied him carefully. It was clear that she was debating what to tell him. They’d fought, verbally sparred, but he still hadn’t managed to get through her and all he seemed to want to do was talk, which was incredibly odd. The sentinel had never heard of a Northman being so… chatty.
“Why do you want to know so badly?” she said. “I told you that it is not meant for you.”
He shrugged. “Mayhap it is a great treasure,” he said. “As you suggested, it might be the treasure of Jerusalem. Or even a great magical sword, something I could use in my travels. Is it a great magical sword, Bluebell?”
Perhaps he will go away if I tell him a story of what lays behind the door, the sentinel thought. Clearly, he wasn’t giving up because it seemed his curiosity had the better of him. He was bigger and stronger than she was and if he attacked her again, she wasn’t so sure she could hold him off, especially now that he’d tossed her weapon away. Therefore, she had to use the only weapon she had left – her wits. Perhaps she could scare him into leaving….
“Nay,” she finally said. “It is not a great and magical sword. And who is to say that I am protecting the chamber beyond. Mayhap I stand here to protect the world from what lies in the chamber. Rather than preventing you from going in, mayhap I am preventing something from coming out.”
Rhonan listened seriously, but his attitude was feigned. “Is that true?” he asked, pretending to be quite interested. “What could possibly be in that chamber that you should not let out?”
She cocked an ominous eyebrow. “Do you really wish to know?”
“I do.”
“It is quite a frightening tale how I came to be sentinel of this door. You will not want to go into his chamber once I tell you the truth.”
“I am intrigued. Tell me everything.”
She did.
PART FOUR
~ Demons Down Under The Sea ~
Hendocia is not a kingdom settled by men.
Nay… it is a kingdom settled by great demons long ago that live beneath us, in caverns beneath the sea.
These demons, great green things that stood taller than two men, one atop the other, with scales upon their skin, eyes like fish, and great tails upon which they balanced when they walked. They moved upon two legs, standing like men, but their faces were contorted with the evil that was in their hearts. They had teeth, too, great gnarled fangs that had a taste for human flesh. Mostly, they stayed to the sea but in such days as the seas grew too cold for them to survive, they came upon land where the sun would warm their scaly skin.
And when they came upon land, they took unto them human wives, women to breed their scaly children who were born like human children, betwixt a woman’s legs. But the children more often than not would eat their way out of their mothers, so the great scaly beasts had to take many wives. There was great fear during the days when the Demons down under the Sea ruled this area, so much fear that even the Romans would not come this far north and the human men who populated this land would not venture close. It was said that the demons would kill men on sight, only allowing women near them. It was, therefore, a woman warrior who drove them back into the sea.
Her name was Gelyn and she came from the land of the Picts. She was fearless and strong, of royal blood. Her mother had given birth to six sons and one daughter, and had died when her daughter was born, so the family was without a mother. The king loved his sons greatly but loved his daughter more, in the image of her mother, but growing up around so many warrior brothers, it was natural that Gelyn wanted to become a warrior, too, so she did. As she grew, she became the fiercest warrior in all the land.
And then came the day that the Demons down under the Sea came to Gelyn’s village and began to steal the women away. The men in the village were killed and eaten when they tried to stop the demons, including Gelyn’s father and brothers. Now, she was the only one left, a queen over a village that only had children and elderly within it. The demons had taken most of the women and it was up to Gelyn to bring them back.
So she set out one misty morning upon a white horse with the axe of her forefathers and a bladder containing wine that she had bathed in. Virginal wine, it was said, would put the demons to sleep for ten thousand years because the purity would rob them of their senses. Her ride was long and wrought with peril, across steaming swamps and past caves where lowly creatures dwelled. She came across a flock of murderous geese and was forced to give them some of her bread before they would let her go in peace. Finally, through terrible storms and days of wind, Gelyn reached the lair of the demons.
The demons, being clever, had dug holes into the ground near the shore and created great caves to live in, but they also built homes from rock and sand on the surface where their human wives dwelled. Gelyn was able to enter the village and she was protected by some of the women who recognized her. She sent her horse, the white horse, away to safety because she knew the demons would like to eat him as well. The days passed and she waited for the right time to confront the demons.
Finally, the time was right. The king of the demons had a great feast, feasting upon the flesh of men, and Gelyn was able to attend the feast disguised as one of the human wives. With her, she carried the virginal wine and the women servants gave this wine to every demon except the king. The king of the demons drank the blood of the human men but very soon, all of his demons were fast asleep and could not be awakened. With only the king of the demons left, Gelyn made her presence known.
The king of the demons, a creature named Gis, challenged Gelyn. He was angry that her wine could make his demons sleep for ten thousand years. Gelyn declared she did it to save the women but the king of the demons still would not let them go. Gelyn tried to bargain with him but he refused. He would not even fight her, fearing he might lose to the axe of her ancestors, which was blessed by generations of her people. Therefore, he agreed to release the women if she could answer three riddles. If she got any of the answers wrong, he would summon forth his sea serpents and kill all of the women, including her. Gelyn had no choice but to agree.
Gis, in his fiendish glee, presented the first riddle: There is a building where men go in dirty but come out clean and it is not a bath house. What is it?
Gelyn was very perplexed by the question, fearful that she was about to give the wrong answer that would see all of the women killed. As she was pondering her answer, she happened to glace at the axe in her hand and saw a
knotted cross etched upon the blade. It was a holy symbol, a symbol of forgiveness. Men came to God with the dirt of their sins and were cleansed by his blessings.
God had granted her the answer.
A church! She said.
Gis was forced to agree.
Displeased, the king of the demons presented his next riddle: At night, they come without being fetched. By day, they are lost without being stolen. What are they?
Gelyn was at a loss, fearful that she would not pass this second test. The riddle made little sense to her and she looked to the women around her, seeing that they were all terrified with her. She knew she could not fail them so, deep in thought, she looked up to the roof of the demon’s hall, a great roof with a great hole in it for smoke to leave from the fires burning. Through the open hole she could see the night sky and its dusting of glittering stars. Glittering bodies that were there by night but disappeared when the sun rose.
… stars?
The answer is stars! She said.
Gis was forced to agree.
Deeply unhappy, the Demon King would make sure that the last riddle was the most difficult. He could see that Gelyn was very clever and he was about to lose all of his women. He did not want to lose this battle at all. He scowled at Gelyn with his fish-eyes.
I have one more riddle for you, he said, and it will not be so easy as the others. If you cannot answer this, my sea serpents will kill the women and I will personally chew your head off, you bold and foolish wench. Here is your riddle: I never was, yet always will be. No one ever saw me, nor ever will, and yet I am the confidence of all. Who am I?
Gelyn was muddled by the question. She thought very hard on an answer, not daring to look at the women around her, who were no doubt fearful that they would soon be breathing their last. No one wanted to die in the jaws of sea serpents and Gelyn didn’t particularly want her head chewed off. Therefore, she pondered the answer both logically and illogically. So far, every riddle he had asked had a logical answer, something reasonable. It was the most simple of things, truly, when one thought on the riddle and then realized the answer. But this last riddle was very difficult for it seemingly had no logical answer.
I never was, yet always will be…
… no one ever saw me, nor ever will, and yet I am the confidence of all…?
Who had confidence in something that never existed, unless it was the confidence in something one could not see, such as the love of a father or passage of time, or even the coming of a new day.
Perhaps that was the answer, then. It was either Time or the coming of a new day, something unseen yet undeniable. Swallowing hard, and praying she was correct, Gelyn dared to blurt out the words. She had to choose one answer and she did.
The answer is tomorrow! She said.
Gis’ fish eyes widened and he began to bellow, putting his hands to his head in frustration. The women screamed as Gis bolted up from his seat and began to run, running from the hall where his demons were sleeping and down into the caverns below. Gelyn chased after him with her axe, chasing him deep into a chamber and slamming the door behind him so he could never come forth again. Defeated by a woman, and in shame, Gis was banished to the sea caverns.
But the issue with the sleeping demons remained. Gelyn instructed the women to put them into a big pyre, which was then lit and burned on the beach in a fire that could be seen for a thousand miles and filled the air with a salty fish smell. That is why the seashore smells like salt. It is not only the smell of the sea, but the remains of the demon fire that was lit so long ago. The smell lingers as a reminder of Hendocia’s true past.
As for Gis, he remains in the chamber behind me and in order to become the Keeper of the Gate, I had to answer more of his riddles. I did not fail. I keep Gis bottled up inside these caverns under Hendocia, as has every first-born woman in my family since Gis was first put inside by Gelyn.
If I let you, as a man, inside this chamber, Gis will chew your head off and drink your blood. If I were you, Rhonan, I would tell your Northman this tale so they do not try to enter this chamber.
What I do, I do for your protection.
Enter and you will die.
PART FIVE
~ The Moon Never Beams ~
When the sentinel was finished with her wild and elaborate tale, Rhonan stood there with his mouth hanging open.
“A sea demon?” he repeated. “Do you truly expect me to believe that?”
The sentinel shrugged. “Shall I step aside now and let you in to see?” she asked. “It is possible that I am lying but it is equally possible that I am not. Gis has not seen the light of day for centuries and I am sure he is quite hungry right now for man-flesh. I am sure he would find you quite tasty.”
Rhonan gave her a rather droll expression to let her know he wasn’t intimidated in the least. Then, he rubbed at his chin and leaned against the stone wall, pretending to be quite thoughtful. It was clear that she was trying to scare him away because she had no other recourse left. He was going to enter that chamber at some point and go through her to get to it, so he was certain she was trying to discourage him in a most imaginative way.
Truth be told, it was a very clever story. He had enjoyed it. He was enjoying speaking with this woman warrior as he’d never enjoyed a conversation in his life. She was beautiful and intelligent and skilled, and he found the combination both inviting and enchanting. But he wasn’t going to let her get the best of him; absolutely not.
He was going to beat her at her own game.
“You spoke of sea serpents in your tale,” he said. “In fact, I have battled the very same serpents.”
The sentinel eyed him suspiciously. “How do you know they are the same serpents?”
“How do you know they are not?”
He had a point. She couldn’t tell him that they most definitely were not because it would have given her entire tale away as being untruthful. So the sentinel’s gaze lingered on him, realizing this Northman was much more astute than she had given him credit for. A conqueror who also had a mind? A soul? She’d never heard of such a thing. Northmen, as her father had taught her, were mindless barbarians but this man clearly was not. There was something more to him, much more than she could have imagined.
There was fire behind his pale eyes, but it was the fire of life, not the fire of death.
The fire intrigued her.
Had she not been so terrified of him, she might have thought him rather handsome and pleasant to speak with, but that inherent instinct deep inside her continued to be her voice of reason.
Don’t trust him!
“I cannot say they are not the same ones,” she finally said. “You have battled them, you say?”
“I have. And I won.”
“And you believe that because of this, you might stand a chance against the Demon King?”
“I am sure of it.”
“Then your tale of bravery must be an astounding one.”
A smile flickered on his lips. “Would you like to hear it?”
“Do tell.”
The sea was the color of lapis lazuli, that mysterious stone from far away that I had once seen brought forth on a trade caravan from regions far to the south. My father, a man known as Nordjul the Fierce, had bought a strand of those stones for my mother while she lay ailing. The color, that dark blue and gray color, seemed to bring a light to her eyes. It was a light that would soon dim with sorrow.
A ship had been lost not long before, a ship bearing my uncles and cousins, all from my mother’s side of the family. We were told by other ships that had been sailing in the same fleet that great serpents had come out of the sea and had swallowed the boat, whole, only to spit out the wooden boat in the end and keep the men inside its belly.
My father had, therefore, promised my mother that we would sail to the spot where the serpents were seen and extract her brothers from the belly of the beast. Therefore, on a cold morning as the snow-capped mountains bid us a silent farewell, I embarke
d on my father’s longship with its great dragon-head prow, a ship known as Mjölnir. It was the most feared ship in my father’s fleet, one known to force an enemy surrender simply by sight.
It was the hope that this ship could strike fear into the hearts of the serpents that my father had long enjoyed a relationship with. The serpents were intelligent creatures, you see, and my father was convinced that he could ask them to give back our men. My father knew their hunting ground and he knew that they would scream to one another to communicate, great screeching sounds that would carry over the waves. Upon this sea of deep and gray blue, and beneath a moonless night, we searched for these serpents.
Days went by and there was no sign of them. My father had brought along a horn, a very old horn from a ram that, when blown upon, created a cry that was similar to the cry of the great serpents. One of my father’s men blew on the horn, repeatedly, trying to summon the beasts, but the days passed and the serpents did not come.
Soon, a storm began to blow upon us and our ships were tossed on the waves. Our longships rode the crests, searching in vain for these serpents that seemed to be too far beneath the waves to hear our calls. As my father grew discouraged, I stood at the bow of the ship and began to shout for them, issuing challenges that no serpent could refuse. I called them cowards and berated them as evil, wicked creatures. I challenged them and laughed when they did not respond. Still, the storm blew harder and the serpents, as cowards, remained out of sight.
But that changed the next morning as the sun began to rise and black, angry clouds overhead swirled with rain and thunder. The sea was a maelstrom of crashing waves and rolling surges, and the Mjölnir was beginning to show signs of damage. My father pleaded for me to stop tempting the serpents but I would not listen. In fact, I began to defy Odin himself for his world in which serpents were too cowardly to face a challenge from Man. My father became so terrified that he began praying to Odin, begging the man to forgive his young and rash son, and begging him to spare the ship which was now becoming seriously compromised. As my father prayed, I shouted, and the storm rolled.